Monday, June 1, 2009

Pooh In Its Original Form...

There goes that year again. Sorry, I couldn't help it. But seriously, the great thing about this is the creative change that has happened. Sure, it's a new Pooh film. It's another chance for the Mouse to market their second most popular property, but...

It. Is. Hand. Drawn.

Big deal you say? Actually, I think it is. If MichaelEisner was still in charge along with the Suits that are no longer running Disney Consumer Products then you can bet it would be CG just like "My Friends Tigger & Pooh" and would have the lifelessness of that same series. Instead, it'll be hand drawn. It'll be theatrical so you can expect the quality to be better than a direct to video or DVD release. I'm not saying it'll be as good as "The Princess and the Frog" or something like it, but I am saying it'll be of a much higher caliber than "Pooh's Heffalump Movie" was. And I will bet you the story will be quite good. Two words why:

He is directly in charge of this project and loves Disney's endearing characters. He has no intention of mucking them up in some drab, bland story set up to sell plush toys. He will be watching over it and therefore I will most likely be going to see it.

Now I've got to go and try to remember why I have this string on my finger...

I don't get it. I heard about this a while back and really started to doubt Lasseter. The problem with having so many incarnations of Pooh over the years, CGI and all the other ones, is that as far as the general audience is concerned, they've seen it. How do you sell this film? "Yet another Pooh film"? "No wait, it's better than the last 3 have been!", "It's animated 100 percent by guys in Burbank, not folks in Australia!" I don't see how it's possible to promote it as anything but just the next Pooh offering. How will this film really be able to differentiate itself from any of the others? Story? What's left from the source material that hasn't been used yet? If they haven't already used a story in tact they've certianly used bits and pieces. Anything that they repeat will be noticed. Any Pooh that they produce that is true to the spirit of the 60's/70's films will seem quaint and dull to all but the animation/Disney purists. Maybe the animation will make it spectacular. There aren't enough animation connessuers to stand up and shout- "that is such a great Andreas Deja scene!" to let the theater goers know that what they are watching is any different than Pooh's Heffalump Movie. And frankly, those newer Direct to Videos were pretty darn good animation wise. The overall art direction was cheaper looking, but it wasn't sloppy like they used to be. The problem with Pooh is that most of the public likes him more as an icon and Tshirt design than as an animated character. He is a machine, mindlessly spouting cute sayings and malapropisms that we've all heard a thousand times before, and yet he's also been touched and changed by so many different creative (VP) voices that there's nothing interesting about him. He's a watered down every bear- he can dress up like Buzz Lightyear, or go exploring, or celebrate Easter or Halloween or Tax Day, or be British, or American, or whatever anyone wants him to be. Walt didn't like sequels, I'm betting he would have hated franchises. I'm glad 2-D is back, I hope to have a wonderful time going to see new Disney 2-D films, but it's gonna take a lot of convincing to get my money for this one.

Yeah! "MY Friends" was alright, and it was a great way to introduce Younger kids, but I couldn't really watch it. I got annoyed about how it wasn't Christopher Robin (Darby IS nice though) and I missed Gopher and Owl with a passion.

It'll be nice to see 2D back, now if only they would release "New Adventures of Winnie The Pooh"

I just hope they go back to the original color schemes of the characters from the orignal films. The last time I looked Eeyore was suppose be gray and black (with a pink tail) and not that hideous purple and pink color he sports now. And Tigger is suppose to be orange, white, and black and not orange and yellow. Hear my words John L. !!!!

I haven't seen any of the Pooh vehicles after "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh." No Piglet movie, Tigger movie, Heffalump movie, nor the My Friends series, but what promotions I saw of them gave me the impression that they were not based on stories in the original two Milne books. Was that impression wrong? If not, there should be plenty of story material left in them for another movie, which is the route I'd be most interested in seeing them take.

The Piglet Movie actually adapted a number of original Milne stories (including the expedition to the North Pole), I am not sure how many are left to adapt, but I hope that is the route they take. The more recent Poof films have been way too schmaltzy in my book.

The timing is right to return to a gentler, sublime Pooh story. If Lasseter really wants to invest in this character, then he can set the tone for a Pooh movie like no other. Personally, I like the first three short films as they "hold" those characters far better than any 90 minute film has done. Their world is smaller, their stories are smaller. Even the running times were more (unintentionally) kid-friendly. It would be great to see a back-to-basics Pooh film, with beautiful hand-drawn animation, and an avoidance of chatter-filled dialogue.

Very interesting! Might I suggest adding a new cast of characters in there, including Zachary Gordon as Rabbit's young son, Skippy, Dante Basco as a fast-talking deer named Buck, Judi Dench as the Queen of the 100 Acre Wood, Jodi Benson as a headstrong sprite named Loretta, Jordan Nagai as a shy racoon named Samson, including a new villain, a ruthless vulture named Rubik, voiced by Randall Duk Kim, & his assistant, a snake named Ivan, voiced by Richard Steven Horvitz.

And I've come with a perfect synopsis.

Your favorite Winnie the Pooh characters are back in an all-new animated motion picture event. When a dastardly group of vultures, led by the evil Rubik, threaten to take over the 100 Acre Wood, Pooh & his friends must reach the Queen of the 100 Acre Wood, while befriending a group of forest animals, led by a beautiful sprite named Loretta. Will they get to the Queen in time to save the 100 Acre Wood?

I hope you like the idea, because I was thinking of making a change to the Winnie the Pooh movies.